What was the occasion: Why it was a whisky tasting, and anyone who has been to more than one “fun” “BYOW” (bring your own whisky) tasting will tell you, there’s always a moment of awkward sobriety in which you look at what’s been brought, you look at everything, ask people if they have tasted their whisky before, and get a variety of “hmm” and half-made opinions about alcohol percentage, peat levels, casks used, and if something can hold up to something else.
So basically how Africa was carved up by Europe, but slightly more organized and slightly less bloodshed.
What whisky did we review? Blended Malt 19 2001 Moonbroch The Whisky Agency was the second in the official line, third I’ve had that day in the whisky tasting. What is it? That’s a great question, because it comes down to vague discussions.
So we know it was aged in a sherry butt, we know it’s a blended malt, and we know that the youngest whisky in there is 19-years-old. We also know it’s not a blended scotch, but a Blended Scotch Malt Whisky, meaning there’s no young grain in there. Yes, 19-year-old grain whisky is young. Yes, you can taste the difference.
Beyond that? No idea.
What’s the distillery? If I had to guess, I’d say this may have come from the releases from Edrington group, based on the alcohol percentage, the fact that all of it was aged (pre-vatting) in sherry butts, and some have recently been popping up, however that’s just a guess. I have no idea.
What’s my bias? I’m one of the lucky people that has had blended malts that were actually good. Heck, I’m one of the lucky people to have had mainstream blended scotches before Jack Welch told all the owners they need to gather more money than dragons and start making them worse to do so.
I’ve been lucky enough to see good blended whiskies, is what I’m saying, and as such I don’t think poorly when there’s one alongside single malts. Heck, this isn’t even the first vatted whisk(e)y in this tasting for me, so I’m all set.
So let’s see how it tastes, shall we?
Price: $190.00
Region: Blended Malt
Vintage: 2001
Bottled: 2021
Cask type: Sherry Butt
Abv: 45.8%
Colour: 2.5YR 5/10
Nose: Peachy, cherry, maple, plum
Fruity. Very fruity. What you’d serve a non-whisky drinker who refers to it as “the burn ouch liquid” to prove it’s not all “burn ouch” and some of it is “yum yum yay”.
Very sweet. I appreciate what the tart elements are doing here, otherwise it’d be liquid candy.
Taste: Brown sugar, grass, peach, strawberry
More balance on the taste. Sweet, some sulfur/molasses, some grassiness, and more fruit in case you have the attention span of a 2-year-old.
Again, very happy for the non-sweet elements bringing depth to this soft drink, it’s nice. Joking aside, I’m not hating drinking this dram, it shows off some aspects of different heavily sherried drams, is tasty, and doesn’t leave you thinking it’s just sherry completely. It comes really close though.
Finish: Plum, molasses, cocoa, grass, anise
Nicer finish on this, probably the best part. The earthier, spicier aspects come out. I think the grassiness, on review, is the saving grace for this not to just be a high proof sherry. Though wow, it comes close.
Conclusion: Very fruity, nothing too rough, wish it had a bit more to it but can’t complain. This is the current state of sherry cask whiskies, personally, and it’s a lot of fruit. Be happy there’s molasses and grass, and I think I’m being nice including the molasses.
Alright, so why would you buy this? If you know someone who enjoys something like Naked Grouse or some of the mid-level Compass Box sherried releases (think Circus), this does that at a cheaper price. Or if someone likes smooth, sherried whiskies, this is perfect for them. Is it a very geeky dram? Debatable. I think it opens a tasting very well, and I was okay with that.
77/100
Scotch review #1636, Blend review #136, Whisky Network review #2367
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